The Caped Crusader
by MrZ1289
Summary: After Batman stopped Bane from destroying Gotham, he and Selina Kyle left to Europe while John Blake remained in Gotham to take care of the city. However, someone is seeking to bring Bruce and Batman back to Gotham by any means necessary.
1. The Aftermath

"You could have gone anywhere. Been anything. But you came back here." Selina pleaded as Batman finished attaching the reactor to The Bat.

"So did you." Batman growled.

"I guess we're both suckers." Selina said before pulling Batman in towards her, planting a huge kiss on him. For a moment, the two of them were alone in the world, simply holding on to each other and feeling their connection pour into each other.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as Batman pulled away and walked towards The Bat. As he jumped in and started it up again, Gordon moved towards him. Selina watched as the pair of allies spoke in hurried whispers. Finally, Batman said something to Gordon and then closed the hatch.

Selina looked to Gordon, who was obviously on the verge of tears. Quickly, Selina moved towards the commissioner.

"What did he say to you?" Selina asked as Batman floated towards the sky. Within seconds, The Bat moved away from them and out of sight, blocked by the sight of the massive skyscrapers of downtown Gotham.

"He's Bruce Wayne." Gordon replied, almost unable to breath.

"Yes, he is." Selina replied calmly.

"I helped him when he was just a kid. On the night his parents were shot, they brought him in. He was in shock." Gordon said, a single tear falling from his right eye. "I took his father's coat and put it around him. I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone and that the world would go on."

"Who knows, Commissioner? That action alone may have saved Bruce from becoming a monster." Selina replied plainly. "Without that, he may have felt that the entire world was against him."

"I couldn't imagine that I had that much impact on him."

"Well, it appears you did." Selina said as she turned and raced back towards the Batpod. Hopping on, she instantly revved it up and took off. She had heard Bruce say that he intended to take the bomb out over the bay. For some reason, she felt a need to follow him, to see him as he carried this life-ending burden. What drove her escaped her at the current moment. She had never been particularly interested in any person other than herself. Not until him and not in a long time.

As she raced towards the coast, she could hear the rotors of the Bat racing through the rooftops. Banking a hard right, she suddenly found herself driving directly underneath Bruce as he fired a pair of rockets, blowing part of the building that was in his way out of his way. Finally, Selina was forced to parallel Bruce as he flew out over the river and on towards the bay.

Eventually, Selina raced to the end of the road and was forced to stop and simply watch as The Bat flew out over the bay. As Selina put her hands inside the pockets of her catsuit, she found the USB flash drive that Bruce had given her.

The Clean Slate.

Of all the things that anyone had ever given her, this meant the most. From the earliest age, Selina had been forced to live a life of criminality. Not that she didn't always enjoy it but it's also not like Selina had any other choice. Once she started, the only way to keep making the money that was necessary to keep the mob bosses of her was to keep stealing. Eventually, she got good enough that the odds of getting caught were smaller than succeeding although that was still the best it got.

Suddenly, Selina's thoughts were thrown from her past and back into the present as the large nuclear bomb that Bruce had been carrying finally went off. After averting her eyes for the flash, Selina sadly looked back out over the water as the large mushroom cloud of the bomb spread over the area in front of her.

It was then that Selina became very aware of what had just happened. Bruce Wayne, publicly a billionaire playboy but privately an emotionally ravaged man who masqueraded as Batman, had just flown the nuclear warhead that threatened Gotham City for months out over the Gotham Bay and let it explode with him still attached. The publicly selfish man had sacrificed his life for the lives of the millions of Gothamites.

Most of them would attribute it to Batman, The Dark Knight and The Caped Crusader, who had secretly saved their lives for the final time. However, for Selina and the others who knew Bruce's secret, it would be Bruce, not Batman, that they would all thank when they went to bed that night.

It was Bruce Wayne that saved their lives.

* * *

Two weeks later and after Bruce Wayne had been officially declared dead, a small memorial service was held on the front lawn of Wayne Manor where Bruce's grave was laid. The attendance was low. John had thought that Selina would show up.

He was mistaken. Only Commissioner Gordon, Lucius Fox and Alfred had shown up, a small offering for the man who had saved the lives of millions.

"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

With that, Gordon shut the book in front of him and placed a hand on the tombstone of his greatest ally. John watched as both Fox and Gordon placed an apologetic hand on Alfred's shoulder as sobs rocked the oldest man. John too placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder, knowing that he could do nothing to placate the sadness that was destroying the man.

As John walked away, he heard the voice of the sobbing butler cry out behind him. Slowly, John turned to see Alfred staring at the graves of Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha.

"..You trusted me. You trusted me and I failed you." Alfred sobbed before collapsing to the ground.

John nearly turned back to the man to do everything he could to comfort him when he saw someone else appear out of the trees: Selina Kyle. Selina leaned down and put her arms around the fallen butler, her face angled towards John's. Their eyes locked for a moment before John nodded in understanding, knowing that Selina would take care of Alfred.

Turning back around, John approached his car until he noticed Gordon approaching him.

"Can I change your mind about quitting the force?" he asked nervously. Obviously, he had been waiting to ask John this for quite some time.

"No. What you said about structures. About shackles. I can't take it. The injustice." John said as he gestured towards Bruce's grave. "I mean...no one's ever going to know who saved an entire city."

"They already know." Gordon said as he leaned in toward John. "It was the Batman."

* * *

John walked out of the will reading two days later with a duffle bag in his arms. Whatever John had expected to get when he had been called to the meeting, this wasn't it. Having already opened the bag, John was confused when he found mountain climbing equipment, a flashlight and a set of numbers that John had no idea what to do with.

When John walked inside his apartment, he was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. Sitting on his couch and watching cartoons was the master thief, Selina Kyle. While he wasn't surprised that she had managed to break into his apartment, he was surprised that she was there at all.

"Can I help you?" John asked as he set the bag down on his kitchen table.

"Not really." Selina replied as she flipped the channels. "Now that I don't exist anymore, I don't really know anyone. I figured with Bruce out of town and you quitting the police force, we could hang out."

John sat down on the chair opposite the couch and look Selina directly in the eye.

"Selina, Bruce isn't out of town." John said directly. "He's dead."

"You think I don't know that, Blake?" Selina snapped back at him. "I know it. I watched it happen. I watched him fly out over the water and blow himself sky high."

"Well, I just didn't want you to get your hopes up."

"What's there to get my hopes up about?" Selina asked hopelessly. "There's no autopilot, remember?"

"I know." John said, placing a hand lightly on Selina's leg across from him.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes as they thought of the man who had saved them. The man who had given them a second chance at life.

"What are you going to do now?" Selina asked him softly.

"What do you mean?" John asked in return.

"Well, you quit the force. So you need a job now."

"I do." John replied with a smirk. "I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm probably going to go help Father Reilly with the work that needs to be done at Wayne Manor."

"What work?" Selina asked curiously.

"Bruce left Wayne Manor to the city to turn it into a home for the orphan of Gotham City."

The look on Selina's face as she absorbed this information was classic. It was a lock of disbelief, shock and lack of surprise. Finally, she was able to collect herself and move forward.

"That's incredible."

"That it is." John replied. "How 'bout you? What are you doing?"

"I think that I'm eventually going to leave. Head to Europe or something."

"But?"

"But, I'm curious to see what happens around here in the immediate future." Selina admitted. "I'm going to stick around until things are little more normal, just to see what happens."

"That seems very unlike you."

"Well, things are changing, aren't they?

"I suppose." John replied. As he did, Selina stood up and started collecting her things. Once she was done and had put them in her bag, she looked directly at John.

"Well, this has been a grand time but I really must be going."

"Going where?" John asked.

It was at this point that Selina's demeanor changed. Instead of the strangely friendly vibe she had been giving off for the last few minutes, she was now the sly vixen that she normally played.

"Listen, Blake, we may both have known Bruce but that doesn't make us friends, alright?" Selina snapped. "I don't have to tell you everywhere I'm going and everything I'm doing."

"Fine. I was just asking." John said as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Well, don't." Selina shot back before walking straight out the door.

As John recovered from Selina's verbal lashing, he grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels. Not surprisingly, much of the media attention was focused on Gotham City. In the two weeks since the bomb went off, things had been changing for the better. The entire city was still under martial law they tried to restore order within the city. Despite this, things were moving forward. Elections were due to be held for a new mayor within the month and much of the city's leadership was already returning to work.

The one member of the city's leadership that would not be returning was Jim Gordon. In the last week, it had been announced that Gordon would operate as acting Commissioner until things were back to mostly normal. At that point, Gordon would be removed as Commissioner and replaced with a candidate from outside of Gotham City. The news that Gordon lied to the Gotham public, whether it could be substantiated or not, was enough that the city no longer really trusted Gordon and in this environment, he had to go.

Suddenly, John's mind snapped back to the contents of the duffle bag, more specifically the numbers. Jumping up from his seat, John reached for the bag and ripped it open before pulling the numbers out.

Looking at that paper, it was as if the stars had finally aligned. John had no idea where it had come from but he knew what these numbers were.

They were coordinates.

Instantly, John went to his computer. Only recently had internet access been restored and for this, John was thankful. All John had to do was open Google and enter the numbers: 40.422906, -74.106216. Within seconds, Google came back with the location.

Wayne Manor.

Looking back at the numbers, he noticed a small note at the bottom. It read: _"I hope you don't mind getting wet."_

In an instant, John grabbed the bag and raced out the door.

* * *

Forty minutes later, John was standing face-to-face with a large gap and a giant waterfall. Now, John understood Bruce's joke. Even from the grave, the man's strange sense of humor kept popping up. Guessing that he was supposed to end up inside the waterfall, John analyzed the area. It was then that John noticed the small distance between two spots about thirty feet up. There, the two sides got to within several feet, a distance that John could easily make.

Utilizing his brief rock climbing experience, John quickly made his way to the closest point of the gap. Finally, John linked himself to the wall, aligned so that when one of the points fell, John would swing across easily and then be able to pull the other points out of the wall and then work his way down. Making sure that everything was set, John took a deep breath.

Then, he yanked on the far point. In an instant, he dropped for a second before flying up and landing on the platform opposite.

"Yes!" John shouted to himself, scaring some of the birds on the trees opposite him. Standing up, John yanked on the holding points across from him. With a couple tough pulls, the points came out. Within seconds, John worked his way down the wall, ending with him falling into the waterfall and landing in a massive puddle.

As John stood, he pulled the flashlight from the bag and turned it on. At this point, all John could see was that he was underneath the Manor as some of the massive home's foundation was visible. Other than that, even with the light afforded him by the flashlight, he couldn't see much of anything.

Suddenly, John heard a wave before seeing a rush of bats flying at the light in his hands. Instinctively, John ducked and used his arms to cover his head. However, it was in that moment that John realized where he was. Standing as the rush of leathery wings flapped around him, John pressed forward.

He marched forward until he reached a predetermined point. When John reached that point, lights shined from everywhere and the platform he was standing on began to _rise_. Within a couple seconds, the platform rose to the level of the basement floor of the manor with the Batsuit and a super computer coming out of the floor. Lights in the corner turned on to reveal a version of The Bat, The Batpod and The Batmobile.

Seeing all this, John's assumptions were confimed.

John was in Bruce's headquarters.

Then, John heard a voice he didn't think he would ever hear again.

"I'm glad you found this place."

Turning in place, John looked up towards a balcony behind him. On that balcony stood a man that the world at large knew to be dead. But John's eyes told a different story, a different truth. By all means, he looked fine. He looked healthy.

Bruce Wayne looked alive.

"Otherwise, I would have had to go looking for you." Bruce said as he came down to the platform John was standing on. "And going out in the world right now would be a little difficult to explain."

"How the hell are you here!?" John shouted, confusion setting in.

"I lied when I said that the autopilot wasn't fixed. I fixed it months ago." Bruce replied. "I set it the second I was out over the water. Waited until I was two miles out and then bailed. Then, I removed the suit out there and swam back to shore. From there, I just hid in my old penthouse. Then, once I found out that you had the bag, I moved her to wait for you."

All of this information was almost too much for John to handle. The fact that Bruce was standing here, alive and well, was mind-boggling. However, if there was one person that could convincingly fake his death, it was Bruce Wayne.

"So what are you still doing here? I imagine you'd be long gone."

"I was waiting to talk to you." Bruce replied, taking a seat at the computer in front of him. "I want you to take over as Gotham's protector."

"Why me?" John replied before taking a seat opposite Bruce as he rubbed his temples. All of this information was too much for John and his head was starting to ache.

"Because you have the same fire that drove me to become Batman. That anger that you were talking about and the ability to hide it. Those are things that are necessary to protect Gotham."

Bruce was asking him to take over as Batman. The thought alone was terrifying.

"I won't be Batman." John said defiantly.

"You don't have to be." Bruce replied. "There is a spare suit without all of the Batman markings in the corner. It's tailored to fit me so it might be a little big. However, if you choose to do it, you can talk to Fox and he'll make you one specifically for you."

The thought of replacing Bruce was insane. However, as John thought about it, it seemed to make a bit more sense. When Batman had been away for eight years, he had always thought that things would have been better with the Batman prowling the night skies. Now that it was obvious that Bruce was disappearing, probably for good, someone needed to be there, especially in the wake of Bane's occupation of Gotham.

"Alright. I'll do it." John whispered.

"What?" Bruce replied.

"I'll do it." John replied, louder and firmer than the first time. "I'll protect Gotham while you're away."

"John, just so you know, I don't intend on coming back." Bruce said softly.

"I didn't figure you did." John replied.

* * *

As Selina made her way back to her small apartment, she wasn't surprised to see that Jen wasn't there. In fact, Selina would be surprised if Jen ever came back. More than likely, Jen had sold herself to some wealthy businessman who would take care of her until the money went dry. At that point, Jen would leave him and either move to another wealthy man or come back to the world of the crooked.

So, when Selina shut the door and then proceeded to hear someone speak to her, needless to say, she was surprised.

"Hello."

However, when she heard _that _voice, surprise wasn't a word that figured into her vocabulary.

Shock, now that was an appropriate word.

Turning around slowly, she saw Bruce Wayne, alive and well, sitting on her bed. Apparently, she looked surprised.

"I gather you weren't expecting me." Bruce said with a smile.

Suddenly, Selina seemed to wake up.

"How the hell would I be expecting you, Wayne? You're dead! I watched you fly that contraption out over the Gotham Bay, disappear into the sunrise and blow yourself up!"

"Actually," Bruce started with a grin. "you watched me fly out over the bay, set the autopilot and jump out while The Bat flew the bomb out to sea."

Bruce's statement, and lie to her, struck Selina into silence. The fact that he had lied to her and then made her suffer for weeks without any kind of reprieve despite the fact that he was, in fact, alive.

"Bruce Wayne, if you think that you can get away with this stunt, you've got another thing coming." Selina said seriously.

"It's not a stunt." Bruce said seriously as he stood up and moved directly in front of Selina. "I wanted to be free of Batman, Selina. I wanted to be free so bad that I lied to everyone that's ever cared for me. I lied to you, I lied to Alfred and I lied to Gordon. Now, you know that I'm alive and so does Blake."

"Why Blake?" Selina asked curiously.

"Because he's taking over as Gotham's protector."

"Really?"

"Really." Bruce said darkly. "But I have a plan."

"Really? Batman has a plan? Why am I not surprised?"

"Funny." Bruce fired back snidely. "Anyway, I have a plan. Outside is my car. It's not registered in my name and is in no way connected to me. We can drive to a private airport just outside Gotham that holds one of my planes. Again, not connected to me. We can fly it to Italy and by the time we get there, I can have new identities prepared for us."

"Why Italy?"

"Why not?" Bruce replied shortly.

"Sounds good, Mr. Wayne." Selina replied, batting her eyes at the former billionaire. "How long do I have?"

"How long will it take you to pack?"

* * *

"Bruce, we've been here three weeks and you haven't let me steal anything." Selina said softly as they sat at the riverside cafe. "How are we supposed to have fun in a city like Florence without stealing anything?"

Three weeks and she was already pressuring him to break the law. Thankfully, Bruce had no intention of letting that happen, although he also suspected that she had no intention of letting it happen either. Bruce knew that her desire for The Clean Slate meant more to her than anything and she wasn't going to sacrifice her freedom to get her rocks off by stealing something.

"Very funny." Bruce replied, rolling his eyes.

"I thought it was funny."

"Obviously."

After hopping on a flight to Italy, more specifically Florence, Bruce's primary goal had been to find a good place for their pair of them to settle down. Not that they were actually settling down. In fact, Bruce had managed to hide nearly $1 Billion across the world. It would take him awhile to collect all of that but he didn't need it all at one point. Plus, Bruce and Selina were only in Florence for a little while.

They were only there until an old friend came rolling through which just so happened to be today. Little did Selina know that they were sitting in this cafe for a very specific reason. Due to his contact with John Blake, Bruce had been able to find out that Alfred was taking his annual vacation to Florence again. In fact, he was on his way to their cafe as they spoke.

To be honest, Bruce was very nervous about seeing his old friend again. However, allowing Alfred to see his dream and see his adopted son happy for the first time in a long time would certainly allow him to live peacefully.

"Is everything alright?" Selina asked as she finished taking a drink of the red wine glass in front of her.

"Yeah." Bruce replied distantly. "Just waiting for something."

"What?" Selina asked curiously.

"You'll see."

The pair sat silent for a bit as Selina skimmed the menu in front of her and Bruce looked off into the distance. Finally, Bruce watched as his trusted butler entered the cafe and took a seat just across the open room from them. For a moment or two, Alfred was alone. Then, a young woman came up to take his drink order. Within seconds, she came back, a small drink in her hands.

After she laid the drink on the table and Alfred thanked her, Bruce watched as his elder drank quietly, watching the people in the room. Slowly, he scanned the room, watching no one in particular. Finally, his eyes locked on Bruce's and, in that moment, he knew.

For a second, Bruce didn't think that he would say anything to him. That just like his dream, he would simply nod his head and continue on, content in the knowledge of Bruce's happiness. Bruce was happy to see that he was wrong. Seeing Bruce, he stood, taking his drink with him and made his way towards them.

Tears were in his eyes as he approached Bruce's table.

"I can't say that I understand what's going on entirely." Alfred said softly as he sat down next to them. "But I can say that it makes me very pleased."

"I got away, Alfred." Bruce said with a smile. Selina saw who had approached them and looked towards Bruce in shock. "I've been talking to John, who knew that he was coming."

"You're insane."

"Probably." Bruce said before turning back to Alfred. "How are you?"

"Now?" Alfred asked, almost rhetorically. "I've never been better. I've taken the money you left me and moved into an apartment in Gotham. I thought about going home to London but I realized that almost all of my family is dead now. I also realized that Gotham is my home now."

"Good. That's good." Bruce replied before taking a large drink from the glass of water in front of him. Batman or not, Bruce couldn't handle allowing body to become anything less than perfect and that meant nothing but water and sports drinks.

"I just thought you should know that Commissioner Gordon has been replaced." Alfred said sadly. "Apparently, helping you save Gotham couldn't hide him from the secrets you kept."

"But they couldn't prove that he lied, could they?" Selina asked.

"No, they probably couldn't." Bruce said. "But I imagine that fact didn't matter too much in the end, did it?"

"No, sir, it didn't." Alfred confirmed with a sad nod. "No one knew one way or another whether the lie was the truth but it didn't really matter. Once Gotham believed what Bane said, Gordon's days were numbered. Apparently, they selected a woman by the name of Essen from Star City to replace him."

"That's too bad." Bruce said softly. "But I guess we all paid for our lie in the end."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked.

"Harvey died, killed by me and the madness our lies caused. In order to cover for Harvey, I took the rap for Harvey's crimes which caused me to go into hiding for eight years. Finally, Jim lost his job because our lies finally came to the surface. In the end, we all lost."

The three diners sat in silence for a couple minutes, simply enjoying each other's company. Bruce could tell just how happy Alfred was to know that Bruce was alive and away from it all. In the end, that made Bruce happiest of all.

"Sir, I have just one question."

"Alfred, after all of these years and especially since you don't work for me anymore, you can call me Bruce." Bruce pleaded.

"I don't believe so, Master Wayne." Alfred replied with a smile. "Either way, my question is this: I am happy that you've chosen to leave Gotham City behind. We've been over this before but I have just one thing to ask: do you believe that you made the right decision? Are you happy leaving Gotham behind forever?"

"We'll find out." Bruce replied with a smirk. "But if I'm wrong, you've brought me back from the dead once, right? Nothing to say you couldn't do that again."

* * *

Two days after Alfred's visit in Florence, Bruce and Selina were gone to Geneva, Switzerland. Both of them had decided that Geneva, being the single most neutral city in the world, would be a good place to settle down. Plus, much of Bruce's money was hidden in Swiss banks and with that, they would have the ability to live the life of luxury.

Of course, Bruce would have to assume a new name. So, in public, he took the name of his grandfather, Patrick. However, Bruce and Selina didn't really intend to be that involved in the public life so it shouldn't have been a very big issue.

Once Bruce and Selina got to Geneva, they made their way to one of the banks where Bruce had willed his vault to Selina. In minutes, they were able to get in and get out with nearly 50 million dollars. Then, they moved to a plot of land that Bruce owned under an assumed alias. The house on the land stood on a cliff over a massive lake just outside of Geneva. The house itself had a world-class security system and was far enough outside of the city that the two of them could live alone, unaffected by the world around them.

About a week into their stay in Geneva, Bruce read in the Gotham Gazette that Bane had managed to survive Selina's attack at City Hall. He had been transported to a hospital in Washington D.C. where he had stayed since the end of his occupation of Gotham. Finally, he was healthy and would be moved to a secure location within Gotham to await trial.

Thankfully, The President had declared him an enemy combatant of the United States and therefore, certain human rights violations would be allowed to hold him. Bruce imagined that he was going to be held in the secure wing at Arkham Asylum, newly rebuilt after Scarecrow's attack on the Narrows ten years earlier.

However, as surprising as Bane's survival may have been, the fact that it was no longer Bruce's worry was an incredibly liberating feeling. While he knew that John had yet to take to the streets under his new alias, he knew that if Bane or anyone like that ever took to the streets again, John and Gordon, albeit not as a police officer, would be able to stop him before he gained too much power.

Overall, the time he had spent without The Caped Crusader in his life was already among the happiest he had ever been.

In fact, the last time he had remembered being this happy was just before he fell into that well all those years ago.

Before the thought of Batman, Ra's Al Ghul or Bane had ever entered the mind of Bruce Wayne.

It had been his last peaceful night prior to his escape from Gotham. Since then, all he had been was peaceful.

And he was loving every minute of it.


	2. 14 Months Later

"It's been fourteen months to do the day since Batman saved the lives of every citizen in Gotham." Mayor Marion Grange said at the front of the room. "In that time, we've seen this city rise up stronger than ever, all with the support of Lucius Fox and the Wayne Foundation."

Nearly once a month since Bane's defeat, the wealthy of Gotham had hosted one of these parties. They were held for two purposes. First, the wealthy of Gotham had spent half a year in fear and unable to flaunt their wealth with luxurious parties. Secondly, these parties truly did some good. Much of the donations and proceeds from the auctions that usually occurred at them went to the Wayne Foundation.

Since Bruce's "death," Lucius Fox and the Wayne Foundation had been the biggest contributor to other charitable organizations, especially to The Thomas and Martha Home for Children, where the proceeds for this evening's bash would go.

Either way, due to John's relationship with Bruce and Lucius, he always seemed to manage an invite to these parties. While John didn't particularly love going to these parties, it was nice to see Gotham elites giving to those who had lost so much more than just their homes during the occupation.

"John Blake, so good to see you."

John turned around to see former Police Commissioner Jim Gordon walking towards him, drink in hand. No one saw much of Gordon these days. Since his dismissal, Gordon had spent much of his time away from Gordon, spending months at a time with his family in Cleveland or in Metropolis. Unfortunately for Gordon, the disgrace of his lies had forced Barbara's hand and she had filed for divorce only a few months after his dismissal.

Now, Gordon spent his time alone, waiting for the heat from his transgressions to pass so that he could get a job somewhere else. It was rumored that the Metropolis Major Case Squad had hired him as a consultant, unpaid of course. It was a long way down for a man that had once been arguably the most powerful man in the city besides Harvey Dent.

"Sir." John replied as he shook his former boss' hand. "How are things?"

"They've been better." Gordon admitted. "But things are looking up, aren't they?"

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean, sir."

"Well, the rumors that another vigilante has taken to the rooftops of Gotham." Gordon answered, a twinkle in his eye. "It's good news, isn't it?"

"It is." John said shortly. "Gotham needs protecting."

"It does." Gordon replied before changing the subject. "What are you doing with yourself nowadays? I hear that you've been spending a lot of time out at the orphanage."

"Children's home." John replied, correcting him. "Yes, I volunteer out there fairly often. However, I've been contracted by a security firm to lead teams of trained officials to protect important people and events."

"Sounds interesting. Who's the contract through?"

"Wayne Enterprises." John replied smartly. "Lucius is developing a team of highly trained security guards to protect him and the other board members. Part of the reason everything happened was because the board got kidnapped by Bane."

"So now all of the Wayne Enterprises board meetings will happen under protection?"

"Are you really surprised, Mr. Gordon?"

The voice belonged to Lucius Fox, CEO and majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises, who had approached John and Gordon during their conversation.

"I can't say that I am." Gordon replied as he greeted Lucius with a warm handshake. "How have you been?"

"Good." Lucius replied. "Although I can't say that I favor the new Police Commissioner as much as I did her predecessor."

"Me neither." John added.

"Give Sarah a chance." Gordon shot back. "I'm not happy that I lost my job but if there's anyone that I would want to replace me, it would be Sarah."

"Sarah? You talk about her like you know her." John said with a smile.

"I do." Gordon replied. "She's kind of the reason that Barbara left me in the first place."

"Oh." Lucius said awkwardly. It was obvious to John that neither he nor Lucius had expected Jim to admit to something like that.

"Was Barbara right?" John asked.

"She was." Gordon admitted sheepishly. "I was never physically unfaithful to Barbara but there's definitely something there. We've been dating on and off for the last year."

"Doesn't that seem a little dirty?" John asked in shock. "The fired and disgraced former Commissioner dating his replacement."

"Maybe, although I had no say in her getting the job. In fact, I wasn't even asked." Gordon replied. "I was just as surprised as anyone else when she got the job."

Regardless of everything that Gordon said, Jim was uncomfortable with the thought of Gordon dating Essen. However, thanks to John's resignation from the force, he didn't really have to worry about it. If the world at large found out about it and decided they didn't like it, Essen would get fired and there would be a new Commissioner the next week. If they found out and they didn't care, then nothing happened and the status quo remained the same.

As Gordon and Fox changed the subject, John's mind and eyes wandered around the room as he watched the people around him interact with each other. It was almost as if nothing had changed.

_Almost._

After spending five months as equals, the difference between the elite and the average citizen had shrunk. While there were still plenty of snooty, uptight trust fund takers to populate Gotham, a rather sizable chuck of the rich had been changed, even if only in minor ways. The number of Gotham celebrities forgoing box seats at Gotham Knights basketball games in favor of regular seats had increased. Also, the number of average citizens, like John, invited to swanky parties like the one they were attending that evening had also increased.

However, with fourteen months between Bane and the present, things were slowly starting to return to normal. The National Guard had finally left Gotham entirely two months earlier and Gotham City Stadium was set to be reopened in time for the upcoming football season.

As John looked around, he noticed the other Gothamite that Bruce had directly let in on his secret: Alfred Pennyworth. Dodging and slipping his way through the clouds, John approached Bruce's former butler.

"Alfred." John said, placing a gentle hand on the older man's shoulder. "How are you?"

"Quite fine, Master Blake."

"John will do just fine, Alfred."

"I supposed it would." Alfred replied with a wink.

"Is it strange to see Wayne Manor like this?"

The party that evening was being held at The Thomas and Martha Wayne Home for Children, formerly known as Wayne Manor. While much of the city had finally stopped referring to it as Wayne Manor, John couldn't avoid it as he knew of Bruce's true fate. However, John had only been inside the home once for a few minutes. Alfred had spent much of his life living within these walls and to see it changed as much as it had must be difficult.

"It is." Alfred admitted. "However, I know that the entire Wayne family would have been happy to see it used in this way."

"Yes, I know that Bruce would have." John replied. "Especially since he willed this place to the city."

"Not all of it." Alfred replied with a knowing smirk.

"I guess not all of it."

Just as John finished speaking, a mildly drunk redheaded man stumbled backwards into him.

"Watch it." John said sharply as the man turned around. For a second, the drunk looked back and forth between Alfred and John. Then, as if the light switch was turned on somewhere deep inside his brain, he looked at Alfred and his face lit up.

"Alfred Pennyworth!" he shouted loudly before grabbing the butler and pulling him into a deep embrace. "It's been years!"

Alfred indulged the random man for a few seconds before breaking away, obviously a bit upset with being accosted by a man he didn't know.

"I must apologize, sir, but I don't believe we've met." Alfred said plainly although John could tell that he was uncomfortable with what Alfred would call being rude.

"Don't believe we've met?" the man in shock. "Tommy Elliot!" he added, pointing to himself.

Then, much like the man had earlier, Alfred's face lit up with a bright smile.

"Young Tommy Elliot?" Alfred asked in disbelief. "It has been quite a long time."

"It has!" Tommy replied. "I left Gotham just after high school."

"What brings you back?"

"Work." Tommy replied dimly. "I'm on loan to Gotham General."

"The hospital?" John asked.

"Yes." Tommy answered, almost ignoring John entirely. "I've also recently been named a board member of one of the large companies in Gotham."

"Where are my manners?" Alfred said suddenly, although no one else had any sense that Alfred had violated his manners. "Tommy, this is John Blake. John works for Wayne Enterprises as Head of Special Security. He was friends with Bruce prior to his death."

"Tommy Elliot." Tommy replied, extending a hand that John took firmly.

"Tommy was a childhood friend of Master Bruce. He, Tommy and Rachel were thick as thieves."

"Rachel Dawes?" John asked.

"Of course!" Tommy shot back, a great smile on his face. "How is Rachel these days?"

Neither John or Alfred had any idea what to say. Finally, after several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Alfred answered him.

"Tommy, Rachel has been dead nearly ten years now."

"Oh my god."

"Too true. She was killed by the Joker before he was stopped and put in jail."

"That's terrible." Tommy said sadly before stopping for a few seconds. "I can't believe that I'm the only one left."

"Me neither." Alfred replied, matching Tommy's sadness.

For a few moments, no one spoke as they reflected on the tragedy that was the deaths of Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes. While both Alfred and John knew that Bruce wasn't actually dead, Tommy did not and the look on his face reflected that appropriately. Finally, Tommy seemed to come out of his funk and turned to John.

"So, Mr. John Blake, how is it that you came to work for Wayne Industries?"

"Well, Tommy, that is quite an interesting story." John said with a smile. "Originally, I was a beat cop for the GCPD. I spent two years on the force in traffic before being assigned to city patrols."

"Wait a minute." Tommy interjected. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

"Twenty-eight years old and you're the Head of Special Security at the largest multinational corporation in the world!?" Tommy nearly shouted. "How is that possible?"

Since the end of the occupation, John Blake had been dealing with a steady stream of skepticism. At his relatively young age, many people expected him to be a simple cop or a young attorney or something like that. However, while John's appointment to Wayne Enterprises was only a few days old, his experience with the upper echelon of Gotham was not a new thing.

From the moment that John had been promoted to detective, he had spent his time working with Commissioner Gordon and Deputy Commissioner Foley directly. He had also worked with Lucius Fox and Miranda Tate, who had apparently been the mastermind behind the entire thing. Prior to her disappearance, Selina had even mentioned that she may had somehow been related to the man who had been behind the attacks on the Narrows over ten years earlier.

Either way, during his time working with Gordon and Foley, Blake's name had been thrown around the city as someone who was a very efficient worker and someone who could always get the job done, even against insurmountable odds. Therefore, John had become a minor celebrity in the security world, having been contracted by some fairly important Gotham citizens to provide event security and personal security. In fact, Lucius Fox had hired him to protect some of his foreign clients about six months prior. It had been this assignment that had led to his permanent hire by Wayne Enterprises.

"It's possible because I'm very good at what I do." John replied smartly.

"You must be." Tommy answered.

"I can assure you, Tommy, that John is just as good as he says he is." Alfred added.

"Thanks, Al." John said with a smile before turning back to Tommy. "Anyway, I was a beat cop until about a month prior to Bane's takeover when Gordon made me detective. I spent the occupation working directly with Gordon and Foley as one of the only cops that wasn't trapped under the city by the explosion that created the No Man's Land that we ended up living in."

"Gordon must have trusted you."

"Must have." John replied simply. "He basically trusted me to act as his head of security during the occupation. I ensured that everyone moving in and out of our base was supposed to be there. I guess it led me to my current line of work."

"Well, that seems to be a fairly straightforward line of work."

"I guess you could say that." John replied pleasantly. "What about you? What brings you back to Gotham?"

"Like I said a minute ago, work." Tommy replied quickly. "I'm one of the best neurosurgeons in the eastern half of the United States and the head neurosurgeon at Gotham General decided a couple months ago to go on a two-year sabbatical. Therefore, I applied and was selected to return to Gotham. Although, a small secret is that I don't expect to go back to DC. I would really prefer to stay here. I've missed Gotham."

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that." John said as he noticed that Alfred had been approached by some wealthy big wig that John didn't know. Therefore, he was left alone with Bruce's old friend. As John had watched the man in front of him, he obviously saw someone that was cut from the same financial cloth as Bruce Wayne. He was tall with incredibly sharp features and a wardrobe that suggested more money that most doctors had.

However, the one thing he lacked was in the eyes. When you watched Bruce Wayne from across a room, if you looked hard enough, you could tell that his eyes did one of two things. They could be staring down one particular subject if it was of interest of him. However, if there was nothing particularly engaging going on, more than likely, his eyes were darting around the room, always looking for trouble.

So, it was with great relief that John saw nothing like that in the eyes of Tommy Elliot, nothing to suggest that there was anything more to the man than a slightly drunk and wealthy doctor who had a high opinion of himself.

"Well, I've always loved Gotham." Tommy answered John's skeptic reply. "I left to go to the University of Maryland and then Johns Hopkins for med school. Once I got out of there, I did my residency in Atlanta and my fellowship in Metropolis. Then, I spent two years in Los Angeles before coming back east to DC where I was until this year."

"Sounds like you've been a bit of everywhere." John said, a mild sense of wonder at the man's life. John had graduated from high school (Kane High School) in Gotham City, gone to college (Gotham Community College) in Gotham City and worked (GCPD) in Gotham City. In fact, John had only left the city limits three times in his entire life, all on trips for school.

"And that's just where I worked!" Tommy said in drunken excitement.

John was just about to reply when he noticed that Commissioner Essen had ended up behind him. The short but stern young woman looked nothing like what was expected from the police commissioner in one of the most dangerous cities in the country. However, it wasn't her look that he was noticing.

It was her demeanor. She looked like she was ready to run away from this party, as if something was wrong. Then, John noticed that she wasn't stopped behind him. Instead, she was simply stuck in the flow of traffic with a cell phone in her hand. As Essen pulled away, John excused himself from the presence of Tommy Elliot and then slowly tracked the commissioner. Once the pair of them were out of the main hall, Essen broke away from the crowd while John followed her in a parallel room.

Finally, she stopped and answered the phone.

"What do you mean gone?" she snapped into the phone.

John couldn't hear the answer on the other end. Not that he had expected to be able to. However, he could certainly hear the Commissioner's angry reply.

"How the fuck does an entire homeless shelter go missing?" she shouted into the phone.

Instantly, John's ears perked up. Indeed, how does an entire homeless shelter go missing?

"Which one?" Essen shouted. "St. Geoffrey's on Mercer in Old Sandy Hook." Essen replied, repeating it as if she was writing it down.

Someone else was writing it down as well.

John Blake, the man waiting on the other side of the wall. After taking down the address, he took off the other end of the house where a piano stood in a part of the house that was rarely used. After plunking some random keys, a secret door opened with an elevator inside.

At the bottom, the Batcave and the gear of John Blake's alter ego.

Nightwing, Gotham's newest masked defender.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later, the Batpod pulled up two blocks from St. Geoffrey's Home for the Homeless of Gotham. After shutting it down and turning on its security settings, Nightwing quickly climbed the fire escape of the adjacent building. When Bruce had destroyed the Bat, he had destroyed much of his gear and the rest of it had been stolen by Bane. While Lucius Fox was working on replacing much of it, he still didn't have much, including Batman's grapnel hook.

After reaching the top of the building, Nightwing put his new physique to the test. Taking off at a spring, Nightwing launched himself off of the building he was one and landed comfortably on the one next to it. Finally, after two or three more jumps, Nightwing landed on the roof of St. Geoffrey. Seeing that there wasn't a roof access door, Nightwing slowly climbed down the side of the building and let himself in one of the top floor windows.

St. Geoffrey's was the third smallest homeless shelter in Gotham, housing only 25 homeless each night. However, when the entire homeless shelter disappeared, small as it was, something was certainly up. Nightwing knew that he had a limited amount of time before the police showed up and entered the building in full force. While things weren't quite on the level of Batman after Harvey Dent's "murder," the new Commissioner wasn't exactly a fan of his.

Nightwing made his way from the top floor down to the bottom, systematically checking each floor. However, it wasn't until he got to the main floor that he finally saw something was wrong.

And it was very obviously wrong.

Blood was spattered all over the walls, from the floor the ceiling. And it wasn't a light spray either. The walls of the first floor dormitory were quite literally dripping with blood. However, no bodies remained and no trail of blood could be found. In fact, when Nightwing checked the rooms around it, there wasn't a single drop of blood to be found.

"What could have done this?" Nightwing said to himself.

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

Nightwing sharply turned around, batarang in hand, to see Commissioner Sarah Essen standing in the doorway. Unlike what he had expected to see, she didn't have her sidearm drawn and she almost appeared to be smiling, something that truly bothered Nightwing.

"Put that down, boy. I'm not here to attack you." she said, motioning towards Nightwing's batarang.

Deciding that playing along was probably the best avenue at the moment, Nightwing complied and stashed the batarang back in his belt.

"Commissioner." Nightwing said politely. "What can I do for you?"

"I knew that I would find you here." Essen said, almost ignoring his question. "What's your name?"

"Nightwing."

"Nightwing? I like it." Essen replied before she stopped only feet from him. "Here's the deal, _Nightwing. _I come from Chicago. In Chicago, we don't have Batman or Nightwing or anything like you. However, I understand that this isn't Chicago and therefore the rules are different. So, assuming you prove to me that you can be trusted, I will work with you on an incredibly secret and limited basis."

"Great." Nightwing replied lightly. "Now, can we get to work?"

"Absolutely." Essen answered. "By the way, you only have four minutes before the rest of the GCPD shows up."

"Then let's get moving." Nightwing said shortly before flipping a switch on his utility belt. This switch was attached to the makeshift mask that Nightwing was wearing. One of the old Batsuits that Bruce had left in the Batcave had a UV, X-Ray and black-light visor in the cowl. In order to use it, Nightwing had cut off most of the cowl, only leaving the essentials. Then, he had melted the edges to give it a cleaner edge so that it could be used as a mask.

As Nightwing looked around with the black-light visor, he initially saw nothing other than the blood of the homeless who had been murdered. He had been about to give up when he noticed something strange at the other end of the room. Marching towards it, he saw exactly what he thought he saw.

Unlike the rest of the blood, which was spattered fairly unevenly and without pattern, this had a distinct pattern. It was a puddle that someone had since removed. Looking around, he also saw another heavy spot of blood trace material. Suddenly, a sick idea popped into his head.

"Someone ate them." Nightwing whispered to himself.

"Excuse me?" Essen replied as she marched from the other end. "Did you just say that someone ate them?"

"Yes." Nightwing said before turning to explain himself. "Do you see the spatter on the wall?"

"Yes."

"There's no pattern to it. It just appears to be blood on the walls. However, if you get your forensic team in here, you will notice that there are two distinct patterns of heavy blood traces here and here." Nightwing said, pointing to the two places.

"What does this have to do with some_thing _eating them?"

"They were piled here after they had already been attacked." Nightwing replied. "The attacks caused the blood spatter. More than likely, we're looking at a being with the strength to throw a human being up against a wall incredibly hard. More than likely, he also removed some limbs. That's why the blood loss is so high."

"But what does this have to do with eating them?" Essen replied nervously.

"Whatever it was that attacked them piled them here." Nightwing said, again pointing to the two spots. "However, the blood is gone and there's no sign of any bodies or body parts been left here."

"So someone moved them. Why do you think they were eaten?"

"Because if someone moved them, there would be a blood trail to where they were moved. Instead, any trail you see ends here and doesn't start again."

Finally, Essen seemed to be coming around to his side, seeing that this could, in fact, be the act of a terribly hungry cannibal or massive animal of some kind.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Essen snapped as police sirens started to echo outside. They were getting close. "Should I put out an APB for a black bear or something?"

"No." Nightwing replied before disappearing into the darkness. "I'll contact you."

As Nightwing disappeared from the room, utilizing a technique that Bruce had shown him in a collection of instructional videos left behind for him, cops started pouring into the room. Essen looked around in the room in confusion, obviously wondering for Nightwing had disappeared to. As the GCPD started closing down the building and declaring it a crime scene, Nightwing heard one of the beat cops say something that intrigued him.

"We've got a mutilated body about three blocks over that someone just called in. Do you want some of us to head over there?"

A mutilated body? That was exactly what Nightwing was looking for.

"Where is it?" Essen snapped.

"In an alley off Elm."

For a second, Essen sat and thought before turning to one of her detectives.

"Make sure things are secure here first. Then, take a team of two or three and secure the scene over there."

She was giving Nightwing time to get there and check it out. Maybe Essen would be useful after all. Either way, Nightwing knew that he needed to get moving. So, he climbed out the window and slowly proceeded to climb down the building until he hit the ground. Once he was on the ground, he took off at a sprint, using back alleys and fire escapes to avoid detection.

Finally, he reached the location and sure enough, there was an incredibly mutilated body laying on the ground in the middle of the alley. As Nightwing got closer, he saw that it was an old man, dressed in clothes that certainly belonged to that of a homeless man. Instantly, Nightwing knew the crime was related to the homeless shelter attack. Quickly, Nightwing activated his voice recorder before looking at the body.

"Obvious teeth marks." he said as he made his way through checking the body. "However, the only bit mark I'm finding is much larger than a normal human jaw and also a bit more elongated. The teeth appear to be very sharp as they tear through skin easily."

Moving through the body more, Nightwing continued to dictate to himself, knowing that his time alone with the body was running out.

"One leg has been entirely removed. All of the tendons and muscles at the hip have been torn, indicating that the leg was forcibly ripped off. We're talking about a being with incredibly strength and biting power. One of the bites on the victim's arm appears to have broken the arm in two places."

After stopping the recorder and stowing it in his belt, Nightwing flipped the black-light scanner on. This time, there was a definite trail. A blood trail that led directly to a manhole to the sewers. However, just as Nightwing made his way to open it, police lights lit up the alley. Knowing that he had only seconds to bail and avoid the issue of confrontation with the GCPD, Nightwing scaled the nearest fire escape until he stood at the top of the building next to the scene.

Knowing that he had the basic information he needed, Nightwing continued on with his patrols for the evening. Over the course of the evening, he ended a couple muggings and one attempted rape. Other than that, it was a fairly slow night in Gotham City.

Finally, at 4:00 AM, Nightwing called it quits for the evening.

* * *

However, just because Nightwing was done, that didn't mean that John Blake was finished. After getting back to the Batcave at just around 4:30 AM, John took a 90-minute power nap to recharge his batteries. Once he woke up again, he showered in the facilities that Bruce had created under Wayne Manor.

As the hot water ran down John's body, he thought about how much time he spent in the Batcave. He hadn't been back to his apartment in two days and he hadn't spent more than a few hours there in a week. While some of that was the fault of his alter ego, most of it was actually a result of his new duties at Wayne Enterprises. While John wasn't required to be present at Wayne Enterprises every day, he was still supposed to be on call in case of an emergency. So far, he had been called in three times in the last three days.

In the last three days, John had also fired nearly twenty members of the security staff at Wayne Enterprises. Prior to John's appointment, much of the security had been handled by a private security firm. However, the firm typically dealt with shopping malls and small banks. They hadn't dealt with anything on the scale of Wayne Enterprises and it showed in the training of its employees. When John had been hired to take over, all of the employees had remained.

Now, John was in the process of removing some of the more incompetent members of the staff and replacing them with former detectives and private investigators. In fact, John was in the process of creating an Internal Affairs department that would allow Wayne Enterprises to handle much of its own issues, rather than encouraging police intervention. John supposed that it was Bruce's trust issues that had prevented this from happening before but John couldn't allow it to happen now.

Within months, John planned to have each building of Wayne Enterprises staffed with a collection of security officials who would maintain security at the facility around the clock. Any issues with stolen patents or missing items would disappear if John had anything to say about.

After finishing his shower and dressing for the day, John sat down at the Batcave's super computer. First, John instructed the computer to search all of the Gotham's newspapers and police reports for anything in the last ten years having to do with murders leading to the sewers. As he expected, much of the data initially led to Bane. After filtering out that information, John let the computer work.

Next, he turned on the computer's webcam, installed the security settings and called Lucius Fox. After the third ring, he picked up.

"John, what can I do for you?" Lucius said as he took his seat in his office.

"Is this a secure conversation?" John asked, indicating that he had some "off the books" things to talk about.

"It is."

"Good." John replied before taking a sip of his coffee. "First, is the new suit done?"

"Unfortunately, it could be a couple more months, John." Lucius replied sadly. "Much of the equipment I used to create Bruce's suits was destroyed and I'm still in the process of trying to rebuild it in the weapons vault."

"Alright." John said, trying his best not to be upset. John had asked Lucius to create a suit specifically for him. Unfortunately, Lucius had been busy enough with running Wayne Enterprises that the suit had been pushed down on his list of priorities.

"Don't worry, John. I'll get it to you the moment it's done."

"I'm sure you will." John replied with a smile. "Now, about my actual job, I need full authority to rebuild the security staff at Wayne Enterprises."

"To rebuild it?" Lucius asked nervously. "You've already fired half the staff! Isn't that enough?"

"Unfortunately, no." John answered. "The security staff simply isn't up to the task of acting in the way it needs to act."

"Which is?"

"They need to be able to successfully analyze risk versus reward while being as invisible as possible. Yesterday, six of your guards subdued a woman in your lobby because something in her purse set the sensors off. It turned out that the sensors had been miscalibrated and the plastic bottle of lotion the woman had in her bag had set the machine off. Now, instead of calling me down to check it out, they took matters into their own hands by tazering the woman and handcuffing her."

"Dear lord." Lucius whispered softly.

"Exactly. That's why I fired all of them, Lucius, and it was the last straw. I haven't seen that a single one of them is capable of acting in a way that is appropriate."

"How expensive is this going to be?" Lucius asked, obviously wanting to know the financial ramifications for the company.

"Very." John admitted. "You're going to have to fire the list of people I give you, although I encourage you that you give them 6 months salary and 1 month notice before doing it. The other list I give you will be the rest of the staff and I would like them retrained. In the meantime, you're going to have to hire a security firm to handle security. Then, once I've hired the people I want and gotten rid of those that are incapable, you're going to have to pay these people much more than what you were paying them before."

"How much?"

"The basic guards will probably need around $75,000 a year and they need to be salaried. Guards in areas that are housing government projects and secret projects will be paid around $125,000 a year. Security supervisors in basic areas will earn around $175,000 a year with those supervising high security areas earning $200,000."

"That's insanely high, John." Lucius said nervously. "You know that no one else pays that much for security."

"Whatever STAR wants to pay for their security is their business." John shot back. "However, I guarantee you that if you do this, the amount of break-ins, stolen items and generally the number of reported incidents will decrease."

"How can a better trained staff lead to a decrease in incidents?"

"Because they're only going to report the people that come in with items of interest. They aren't going to attack the woman with the lotion in her purse."

Although John could tell that Lucius wasn't necessarily happy about this, he could also tell that it was needed.

"I want both lists in the next two days. I also want you to personally fire everyone." Lucius said. "You want this, you got it."

"I do." John said firmly, although he wasn't excited about the thought of firing a bunch of people.

"And I want you to do the research and hire the replacement firm."

"Can do." John replied.

"Good. Now, I'm sorry to ditch you like this but I have a meeting with our newest board member."

"Really? Who's that?"

"A doctor by the name of Thomas Elliot." Lucius replied dismissively. "Apparently, he bought 9% of Wayne Enterprises over the last six months. According to our guidelines, anyone that owns over 6% must be given the opportunity to be a board member."

"Elliot used to know Bruce." John replied, remembering the doctor from last night.

"That's not surprising. The Waynes and The Elliots were Gotham royalty for the longest time."

"Really? I didn't know that."

"Before your time, son." Lucius said with a smile. "I will talk to you the next time you come in."

"Alright, Lucius."

"Bye." Lucius answered before turning off his webcam.

The thought that Thomas Elliot's family was considered on the same level as the Waynes was an interesting fact, indeed. Maybe he would have to look it up after he got done figuring out just how an entire homeless shelter was eaten.

* * *

After talking with Lucius, he saw that his computer was finally done analyzing recent data. Opening the files that his computer had given him, he saw that there was a long trend of attacks related to the sewers, going back to the Scarecrow's attack on the Narrows.

After that, there had regularly been rumors of a monster roaming in the sewers. Some described him as a giant man while others said that he was scaly, looking almost like a giant alligator. There had been numerous sightings rumored but none of them had been confirmed. In fact, many of the sightings had been reported by drunken homeless men who wandered the sewers in a stupor. So even their "testimony" wasn't something that could be relied on.

However, it appeared that every six months like clockwork for the past eight or nine years, someone or a group of someones had gotten lost in the sewers and never returned. Once it was a sanitation worker, another it was a group of three workers for the electric company. Something about this whole thing seemed off to John. He had been a police officer long enough to know that a pattern like this should have been investigated.

But when John went through the police records related to the events, no one, not even Gordon, had ever ordered a search of the sewers near the area. Unfortunately, none of the attacks occurred in the same area of town. In fact, the only connection between the attacks was that they occurred in or near sewers or large sewer access points.

"I guess I'm not getting much more sleep today." John said while rubbing his eyes.

As much as he wanted to lay down and get some rest, he just couldn't let the feeling go that something was connecting these disappearances to the attack on that homeless shelter the previous night.

So, ignoring the sleep he desperately needed, John went to work to find out just what this "killer gator" could be. Eventually, around 3:00 PM, John could no longer keep his eyes open and fell asleep directly on the desk in front of him.


	3. Security

After two days of research, John resigned him to the fact that he wasn't going to find out anymore about this mysterious attack without doing some firsthand research. Of course, in this case, firsthand research meant searching the dark sewers of Gotham for a monstrous man who had potentially eaten a whole homeless shelter full of people.

"Can I get you anything, Master Blake?" Alfred said softly as he tidied up some of the dishes that John had left lying about the Cave.

"Alfred, I've told you that you don't need to do that." John replied.

"I know, Master Blake, but I'm already starting to see that same fire that Master Wayne had as Batman in you."

"What does that have to do with cleaning up?"

"Well, when Master Wayne got working on a project, he rarely found time for anything else, including doing his dishes." Alfred replied with a smile.

"I'm not Bruce." John answered. "You do know that, right?"

"I do. But I like helping."

"Fine."

While John didn't hire Alfred, the man, who like John helped out at the boys' home, had been assisting John with some of his research and other auxiliary parts of his nighttime activities. While John felt bad that Alfred felt the need to take care of him, he couldn't help but be thankful for Alfred's assistance. So far, Alfred's prior experience with Bruce and his subsequent knowledge about the criminal activity in Gotham had been more valuable than anything else he had done.

In fact, the presence of Alfred also allowed him some human contact, something he rarely got nowadays. In fact, other than the party three days earlier and the conversation with Lucius the next day had been the only human interaction other than Alfred he had had in the last three weeks. Other than that, he had spent his time working cases as Nightwing or researching them as John Blake.

Thankfully, John had some time scheduled away from the Batcave that afternoon with Lucius Fox to discuss the list of employees that John was in favor of keeping versus those that he wanted to get rid of. Also, something to be thankful for was the fact that he still had five hours before that meeting to get to sleep.

However, rather than driving all the way across town to his apartment, he simply laid down on the twin bed that Bruce had laid there some time earlier. It didn't take long for John to fall into a deep sleep. Rarely did John dream nowadays. He was usually too tired from his nightly activities to worry about dreaming. However, when he did dream, it often started with the explosion of a bridge and ended with the flash of a nuclear warhead.

Even months later, the terror of Bane, the months of fear and hopelessness still terrorized him at night. Prior to that time, John could honestly say that he hadn't felt true fear before. He had been hardened by a tough life and an irrational confidence level that had never failed him. However, the moment that those officers blew up the bridge, preventing him from getting those kids across the bridge, was the most terrifying moment of his life. Never before had he ever felt the hopelessness and the sense of failure that he had as he watched the bridge fall out from in front of him.

He had failed Bruce.

He had failed Father Reilly.

He had failed the kids.

Then, in a moment, he saw that explosion and feared the worst, knowing that his time had come. But then he heard something that he never thought he would hear again.

Hope.

"It's Batman!" the boy on the bus had yelled and sure enough, it was. Batman, flying The Bat with the nuclear warhead chained to it, appeared to them all, saving him from his failure. Then, John watched as Batman disappeared into the distance and horror filled him again because he knew what Bruce was doing.

He was sacrificing himself to save Gotham.

Of course, John found out later that Bruce had simply been playing a trick on them and that he was alive and well. However, it was that moment of fear when he saw his friend flying out over the bay that had stuck with him in the year that followed and still haunted him to this very day.

Five and a half hours later, John woke up, feeling more refreshed than he had in several weeks. Quietly making his way out to his secret parking space in the back of the grounds, John drove back into the city towards Wayne Enterprises.

As he did, he was able to look at how far Gotham City had come since Bane. Buildings that had been destroyed were being rebuilt, homes reforged and families restored. However, Gotham was still very much a city in recovery. Large parts of the underbelly of Gotham remained just as lost as they were prior to Bane's occupation. The Narrows was, if it was even possible, worse than when he had left it.

In the center of it was Arkham Asylum, the home to one man: The Joker. In the near decade since his reign of terror in Gotham, the Joker had yet to see the light. In fact, the only reason that John knew he was there was through some research into the city's correctional facilities. He found out, through some extremely deep searching, that Arkham was still a functional facility, albeit at an incredibly reduced level. Interestingly enough, although it was common knowledge that Bane was still alive and had been imprisoned somewhere inside Gotham, he was not officially listed anywhere, even on the most top secret level of clearance.

Simply put, Bane was completely hidden from the world.

As John parked in the parking garage across the street from Wayne Enterprises, he put Bane out of his mind and returned to the work at hand. Grabbing his briefcase, John made his way across the street and up the elevator to the very top floor where the office of Lucius Fox stood, watching over the entire city.

"Afternoon, Lucius." John said as he entered the room and took a seat across from the CEO.

"John." Lucius replied simply. "Do you have those lists I was asking for?"

"I do." John answered as he pulled them out of his briefcase. "After reviewing case files and incident reports for each of your security officers, I discovered only a few handful that had the qualifications and the patience I'm looking for."

"Only that many?" Lucius said as he reviewed the list.

"The ones that were qualified tended to be overanxious when it came to dealing with situations." John answered. "You can't be overanxious and work here."

"Fair enough. When will you start the process?"

"Tomorrow. I've planned an employee meeting to let them know that there are going to be massive changes."

"You know I don't like this." Lucius said boldly. "We're firing massive amounts of employees."

"Yes, we are. But we're also giving them one month's notice to find another job, one year's salary and all of them will get a great reference from us assuming they haven't done anything here to merit otherwise."

"If they had, they probably still wouldn't be working here."

"More than likely not." John replied before handing Lucius another file. "Here's a list of security firms that I would be interested in hiring."

"All of them good."

"Not just good, great. These are the best in the field. Obviously, we would keep our men in the high security areas but elsewhere, these men can be extremely efficient and effective."

"Fantastic." Lucius replied. "Are any of them overpriced?"

"Not at the moment." John answered. "I mentioned Wayne Enterprises and they all seemed to jump at the chance to work here. In fact, I think a few of them may have lowered their bids."

"Great."

"Yes. I'll keep talking with them and let you know which one I picked within the next few weeks." John said as he stood from his seat. "Do you need anything else from me?"

"Actually, I do." Lucius said. "I need you to shut the door."

For John, and certainly for his predecessor, the words _shut the door _were buzzwords to let them know that they had crossed the line between civilian discussion and more "sensitive" talk. Following his employer's orders, he shut the door and took his seat again.

"What can I do for you, Lucius?" John asked.

"I'm flying to Geneva tomorrow. I wanted to know if there was a message you wanted me to pass along."

Geneva. That's where Bruce and Selina were hiding from the world, content to living as outsiders. Bruce hadn't tried to contact John in several months and John hadn't made an attempt to contact him in even longer. In the first few days of Nightwing, John called Bruce weekly to discuss how he felt like things were going. Now, contact was only made if it was deemed absolutely necessary. The less contact Bruce made with Gotham City, the less chance someone snooping around could discover that Bruce Wayne was still alive.

"Nothing that I know of." John replied. "The city's been pretty safe recently."

"Good."

"How did you find out?" John asked.

Lucius gave a frustrated smile and placed his glasses on the desk in front of him before chuckling slightly. John honestly couldn't tell what was funny and he hoped that Lucius enlightened him soon.

"The Bat, like all the rest of Batman's equipment, was a Wayne Enterprises military project. For years, it hid in the bunkers of Wayne Tower before I had it moved to the new Wayne Tower after the attack in the Narrows. Initially, it didn't work at all because the rotars were bad. Over time, I managed to fix everything but the autopilot."

"The autopilot that Bruce managed to use to fly the Bat out over Gotham Bay."

Lucius nodded slowly. "After the supposed death of Batman, I had my engineers go through the security patches and the equipment in the Bat, searching for a way that I could have fixed the Bat. However, what I found was most surprising."

"He had already fixed it." John said with a sudden realization.

"He had already fixed it." Lucius repeated to confirm John's suspicions. "From then on, I knew that he was alive somewhere. Then, about six months ago, he gave me a call and asked me to set up some finances for him. Actually, setting that up is what has kept me from working on your new suit."

"Fantastic. Bruce is always getting in the way."

"Indeed." Lucius replied with a smirk. "Either way, I'm leaving tomorrow to meet with Bruce and Selina in Geneva to outline what I've been able to get for them. Then, I imagine that we'll never see or hear from Bruce Wayne ever again."

"You never know." John said, a smile on his face. "You can never count Bruce Wayne out."

"Too true, Mr. Blake. Too true."

* * *

"Bruce, we've lived here for over a year and we've actually been inside the city twice. Once was to retrieve your money and the second was to buy your car."

She had been trying to use the same line for over a year now and it hadn't work. What made her thing that he was going to change now?

"I've told you why I can't go out there. You can go out all you want, Selina." Bruce replied, leaning back in his computer chair.

"Bruce, it's been over a year now!" Selina shouted. "No one is looking for you out there! You've grown that beard, you walk fine now, no one is going to suspect anything if we go to the goddamn market!"

"Selina, you're probably right." Bruce said evenly. "But I don't feel comfortable risking it yet."

"When will you?" Selina said as she stormed out of the room. Rather than let her go as he usually did, Bruce stood up and chased her out of the room and onto the third floor balcony. The balcony overlooked the lake that was just down the mountain from them and on the other side of the lake stood Geneva, their sanctuary away from Gotham.

Coming up behind her, Bruce wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"I know you're frustrated and I know that I'm probably overreacting."

"Probably?" Selina replied skeptically.

"Probably." Bruce confirmed. "Listen to me, alright?"

"What is it?"

"Tomorrow, Lucius Fox is coming to Geneva. He's bringing with him my new identity and the money that comes with it. Once I have that, we can go wherever we want. Because once I have that, when anyone asks me if I'm Bruce Wayne, I can answer them in French and when they look into my background, they'll see that I was born in France and I've lived here and there and everywhere."

"Then will we finally be done hiding?" Selina asked, turning around to face Bruce.

"Yes." Bruce replied. "Do you think I like hiding here?"

"Yes."

Bruce gave Selina an exasperated look before continuing.

"You know that I don't. You know that I hate hiding here. This is why I left Gotham. So that when we go walking down the street, reporters don't flock to us like moths to a light bulb. We'll be practically invisible."

"Thank god." Selina replied as she walked away from the balcony. "I'm going stir crazy in here."

Bruce couldn't say that he blamed her. For the last year, Bruce and Selina had been hiding in their mansion fortress in Geneva, day in and day out. Like Selina had said, they had only gone into Geneva proper twice in the last year. Other than that, they had made some visits to some smaller towns in the area but nothing with the sense of urbanization like Geneva had.

Like it or not, Bruce and Selina were both city rats. They hailed from cities and they felt most comfortable in the rush of city life. To be left out on the edge of the city like they had been, able to see it but not visit it, had been torture. Finally though, they would be able to move about in the city, although Bruce suspected that his paranoia of being discovered wouldn't entirely go away.

Either way, the peace of the last year had been the best part of his life. He rarely thought about Gotham City and only sparingly watched the news. In fact, his only news source recently had been from Lucius or John, although neither of them had been giving him much information recently other than the bare essentials. It seemed that Bruce Wayne was being phased out of Gotham City.

For that, Bruce couldn't have been happier.

However, what had really made him happy over the last year was his relationship with Selina Kyle. While she still pushes his buttons and it was fairly obvious that the two of them didn't share philosophical or moral viewpoints, her passion for life and her vibrancy attracted him to her like no one else.

Not since her.

Bruce may have left Gotham behind physically but spiritually, it would always be there for him. However, Bruce had managed to leave most of it behind with the exception of one thing: his memory of Rachel Dawes. Despite the fact that Bruce was happier than he could ever remember, the "What if?" always managed to pop back into his head every so often. What if he had done the right thing and gone after Dent? What if he had been smart enough to see through the Joker's game? What if he had decided to quit being Batman after he had defeated Ra's?

But all of that was gone now, just like Rachel. However, while she was physically gone, Bruce could still feel her there sometimes to console him when things got rough between him and Selina. He liked to think that she was there to push him onward and to ensure that he had the live that he deserved after years of sacrifice. Unfortunately, he would never know.

As Bruce made his way back to his office, he turned on his computer screen and accessed the only program on the main screen. This program was a connection to the security cameras that were running in the Batcave. Looking down at his watch, he saw that it was nearly 4 PM in Geneva which would mean it was almost 10 AM in Gotham. Not surprisingly, he saw John working diligently at the computer in the Cave.

What was surprising was to see Alfred cleaning up some dishes in the corner. Despite his occasional contact with John and Lucius, Bruce hadn't intentionally contact Alfred once since his visit with him in Florence. The only reason that Bruce was in contact with John was to provide emergency assistance to his protege while his only contact with Lucius was to work on creating a new identity.

Once he had his new identity and John was more secure in Gotham, he would never have to make contact with another person in Gotham City. While he was sad to lose friends, especially Lucius and Alfred who had been with him the entire time he had been Batman, he knew that it was for the best.

"Spying on him again?" Selina asked slyly as she crept into the room.

"I suppose." Bruce returned softly. "I chose John for our similarities but I also know that there are some differences between the two of us."

"Of course there are."

"Don't mock me." Bruce growled, almost using a voice that he hadn't used in a very long time. "John isn't as good as I am yet. However, he's going to get my training plus his years of on the job training with GCPD. He'll have the tools to be better than me."

"Will he have the obsession?" Selina asked as she sat on his lap. "Will he have that unquenchable thirst to destroy the evil of Gotham like you did? You were unwavering, Bruce. I saw it with my own eyes that morning before the assault on City Hall. I looked at you and begged you to leave and you didn't."

"I couldn't." Bruce whispered to himself.

"You couldn't." Selina repeated. "And that desire to destroy evil was what prevented you from walking out. Are you certain that he has it?"

"I can't know for certain. Not until a real crisis comes up and he's put to the test." Bruce replied, looking up at the pale face of Selina Kyle.

"I hope he's up to it."

"So do I." Bruce answered quietly before locking eyes with Selina. "Let's go swimming."

"Swimming?" Selina asked as if he were insane.

"Yes. You know? Swimming? You jump in the water and move around a bit?"

"Why would you want to go swimming?" Selina replied skeptically.

"A few reasons. First, it would be nice to get out of the house for a bit. Second, I need to get my workout in for today."

"I sense a reason number three."

"Very observant." Bruce said before pulling Selina down closer to him so that he could whisper in her ear. "Last but not least, I do enjoy seeing you in your swim suit."

"Of course." Selina replied, rolling her eyes. "Fine. We can swim but I'm not challenging you to a free dive contest again."

"What?" Bruce answered, feigning shock. "I thought everyone could free dive down to 130 meters."

"Not every can be Batman."

"Everyone can be Batman." Bruce whispered, remembering back to his conversation with Blake. "Everyone."

* * *

The next day, Bruce and Selina were greeted with a knock on the door. After checking the security monitors to ensure who it was, Bruce quickly made his way to the door and opened it where a very tired looking Lucius Fox stood in his doorway.

"Mr. Fox." Bruce said as he motioned for Lucius to come in.

"Mr. Wayne." Lucius replied as he stepped inside the door.

Once Lucius was inside, Bruce locked the front door and then led Lucius to the front sitting room where Selina was waiting. As Bruce and Lucius entered, Selina stood and greeted Lucius.

"Mr. Fox, I don't believe-"

"Ms. Kyle, don't think I wouldn't know your name." Lucius said with a smile as he took a seat across from her.

"I'm flattered." Selina said with a smile as Bruce placed a hand on her thigh. To anyone, it was obvious that Bruce and Selina were very attracted to each other, opposite though they may seem.

"Would you like to see what I've brought?" Lucius said as he opened up his briefcase. Inside was a passport, Swiss driver's license and some financial documents that Bruce hadn't quite gotten to reading when Lucius spoke up again.

"As you can see here, we have your passport and driver's license, complete with photo." Lucius said with a smile. "Now, we also have your birth certificate and some transcripts and such to show that you aren't completely a ghost."

"What's the bio?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Patrick Morgan was born to a young English couple on July 20, 1976. From there, they moved to France until he was sixteen. After that, you were sent to a boarding school just outside of London for two years before attending Harvard in Economics. You spent the better part of a decade working for various firms all through Europe before accepting the inheritance of your great-uncle. A wealthy man, your uncle left you enough that you've decided to take a few years off before deciding on more work."

"Perfect." Bruce replied after listening to the bio of his new life. "What are the rest of these."

"These are the stocks that I purchased in Patrick Morgan's name." Lucius replied. "They're all for Wayne Enterprises so you don't have to worry about stealing from someone else. Currently, you own about 1% of the company which will turn you a good profit, especially in the next couple of years as we turn things around in Gotham."

"Fantastic. How do I access the accounts you've given me?"

"They've actually been linked to your Swiss accounts. Any and all money you need to access will be available there."

"That's great." Bruce said before leaning back comfortably. "How's life in Gotham?"

"Interesting. For a time after Bane, the wealthy and the elite seemed more comfortable to walk around with the little people. While those that met and became friends during the occupation still remain friends in most cases, the friends of Gotham's ordinary citizens are becoming less accepting every day."

"Why?" Selina asked curiously.

"Because the wealthy are still about what they were about before No Man's Land, they're about maximizing profit and ensuring their own gains. When it became obvious that many of them weren't about to help their less fortunate friends to much of any extent, those that were directly connected to them began to turn on them."

"So it sounds like Gotham is on its way back to normal." Bruce replied.

"Not quite. Those that are being left down in the ditches while the wealthy return to power are feeling particularly abandoned. While much of Gotham is the way it was before No Man's Land, there's a tension between the wealthy and the poor that has exploded."

As Bruce sat there and listened to Lucius talk about the shifting dynamic in Gotham, only a small part of him felt guilty for not being there to try and sort things out. However, most of him simply felt sorry for those that would be without. He knew that a lot of his money would end up in Gotham charities as he couldn't bare to leave his home completely on its own. But other than the few anonymous donations, Bruce just couldn't bring himself to feel as bad as he used to.

It wasn't that he didn't care. It was that he felt that Gotham was better with the memory of Bruce Wayne and Batman than with the actual beings themselves.

"What are the crime stats like in Gotham?"

"Down all around the board." Lucius replied with a smile. "Violent crime, especially. It's down nearly 40%."

"And the number you're comparing it to were those just before the occupation?"

"Yes. In fact, the numbers were taken and collated two days before Bane's attack on Gotham City Stadium."

As Bruce listened, all he could do was think back to the words of Harvey Dent.

_"The night is darkest just before the dawn. And the dawn is coming."_

Little did Harvey know that he would be correct, but that the night hadn't gotten nearly dark enough yet. The Joker's reign of terrorism was frightening, of course. However, nothing could compare to the fear and terror of Bane's occupation. Thankfully, Batman and Gotham had been strong enough to defeat Bane and finally bring about the dawn.

And this time, it wasn't based on a lie.

"How's Alfred and John doing?" Bruce asked the last of his questions.

"Alfred is fine." Lucius replied with a smirk. "He spends most of his days working with John at the Children's Home, although I imagine they don't spend their entire time there actually in the house."

"They don't." Bruce answered assuredly. "I have video feeds from the Cave hooked in here and I saw Alfred actually in the cave for the first time yesterday."

"Interesting. Anyway, other than that, I know he's been seeing some doctor lady in town off and on for the past three or four months."

"Leslie Thompkins?"

"How did you know?" Lucius said with a shocked look on his face.

"Because Alfred and Leslie have been friends for years. It wouldn't surprise me that there was something more than that going on."

"Alright." Lucius replied, not looking entirely convinced. "I must say that I wasn't certain about John when he came to me the first time and said that we needed to take a trip down my elevator."

"That's how he phrased it?"

"Indeed, it is." Lucius answered with a smile.

"That sounds terrible." Selina whispered.

"It does." Bruce replied to Selina before turning back to Lucius. "Has your opinion changed?"

"Incredibly. He's far more intelligent than your average beat cop. He's hot-headed but smart about it at the same time. His dedication to the job appears to be on par with yours already."

"Being angry about the death of your parents is difficult to deal with." Bruce replied. "Being given something that you can do about it could be life-changing."

"That's funny you say that because it appears that while he's incredibly dedicated, it hasn't changed his dedication to his daily work."

"Which is?" Bruce asked.

"He's now the Head of Security at Wayne Enterprises."

"Seriously?" Selina said, the words almost slipping out of her mouth.

"Seriously." Lucius answered. "And he's very good at it. His experience in No Man's Land has given him an advantage that no one else has. During No Man's Land, he was Commissioner Gordon's personal security officer. No one saw Gordon without going through him and no one entered their main headquarters without clearing it with him first."

"Sounds like he was effective."

"And efficient. He's completely retooling the security staff at Wayne Enterprises to fit the standard that he expects. The company is spending thousands to have our security officers retrained. He's very serious about protecting the company."

"I've always said I was a good judge of character." Bruce said with a smile.

"What about Miranda?" Selina replied lowly.

"I never said that I was perfect." Bruce replied, although it was fairly obvious that much of his steam had been let out.

Although he knew that Selina's jab was entirely innocent, the rib where he had been stabbed by Talia over a year ago ached. While he had never had dreams about marrying Talia, he had certainly thought that she was someone that could be worked with and someone that he could develop a relationship with. To find out so bluntly that she was anything but relationship material had hurt his pride more than the knife had hurt his side.

Bruce had prided himself on his ability to look at a person and access their true motives and methods. While Bruce may have over or underestimated someone in the past, never had he been so entirely wrong about a person. To this day, it still hurt him to think about that level of deception.

"Anyway, I believe that's all we have." Lucius said as he started to pack up his briefcase. "I have a meeting with the director of Mercuria Energy Group about trying other alternative energy sources."

"Hopefully one that doesn't turn into a nuclear bomb." Bruce said, entirely serious.

"Certainly, Mr. Wayne." Lucius said as he shook Bruce's hand before turning to Selina. "Ms. Kyle.

"Mr. Fox." Bruce and Selina said in unison.

"I'll keep in touch." Lucius said before turning around and seeing himself out the door. As Bruce watched the CEO of Wayne Enterprises walk back down his driveway, he knew that as much as Lucius wanted to keep in touch, odds were that wasn't going to happen.

Other than the random communication from John, Gotham had finally started to walk out of his life.

* * *

Three days after Lucius left Geneva, Bruce found himself standing on his balcony, staring at the city over the lake in front of him. Having promised Selina for months that once had a new identity they would go into the city, Bruce now found himself at a crossroads. While he knew that he couldn't spend his life locked away inside his mansion, he was wary about spending a lot of time in the public eye.

But, he also knew that if he only made rare appearances that the wealthy of Geneva, much like the wealthy of Gotham, would eventually start talking about the mysterious millionaire that lived on the top of the hill. Eventually, reporters trying to catch a glimpse of the recluse would start popping up outside his home and eventually, the gig would be up.

So, after working very diligently to work on his back-story, Bruce closed his eyes and very quickly opened them as Patrick Morgan, secretive French-English billionaire. He had long decided to play up just a hint of an English accent, blaming his college years in the States for eliminating much of it.

As he turned around, he saw Selina making her way down the grand staircase. To say that she was beautiful was an understatement. The black dress she wore was simple and tasteful, hugging her in all the right places. Bruce found it difficult to look away and he was certain that his mouth was hanging open. To confirm this, Selina approached him and placed a gentle hand on his jaw and pressed his teeth back together again.

"I can gather that you like what you see, _Patrick._" Selina said, her voice dropping seductively.

"You can certainly gather that." Bruce replied softly. "Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are, Mr. Morgan." Selina answered before turning back and making her way out the front door.

Staring at Selina as he followed her out the door, he turned to lock the door and engage the security system before making their way out. Once he was sure that the house was secure, he turned and followed Selina towards his only car, a specially made Bentley Continental Flying Spur. In order to keep up the appearances of being an insane, world-hopping billionaire, Bruce had looked around Europe to find the most exotic and outlandish car he could find. He didn't want a Bugatti because they were too famous and he didn't want a Ferrari or Lamborghini because they were too popular among the wealthy of Europe.

He settled on the British-made sports car when he saw one in the same jet black color that the Tumbler had been painted. As Bruce settled behind the wheel, he ripped out of his driveway and raced around Lake Geneva towards the city at large. Once he was inside the city, he quickly found The Grand Theatre of Geneva and parked in front. Instantly, a valet made his way around the car towards him.

As Bruce got out, he threw the keys at the valet.

"Don't wreck it, alright?" Bruce said before making his way around the car to collect Selina.

"Oui, oui." the valet whispered in scared French.

As Bruce and Selina made their way into the Theatre, Bruce noticed that no one appeared to be staring them down or looking at them strangely, which meant that things were going exactly to plan. The goal was to look like they belonged while not being wealthy enough to draw attention to themselves. In the United States, his car would have been rare. In Europe, it was rare but rarity was popular among Europeans in a way that mass production was popular among Americans.

Bruce and Selina wondered the lobby of the Grand Theatre for nearly fifteen minutes before they were finally accosted for the first, and assuredly not the last, time. As Bruce finished getting a drink for Selina, he noticed that a couple had already begun speaking to Selina. Taking a deep breath, Bruce moved in.

"Darling." Bruce said, allowing a small hint of a British accent falling his voice.

"Patrick, thank you." Selina said, accepting the drink. "Patrick, this is Simon Coté and his wife, Angeline. They own a large bottling company in Zurich for wine and water."

"Pleased to meet you." Bruce said as he greeted the couple. Nothing appeared off about the two as he shook their hands. They were both about ten years older than him and had the look of two people who had spent most of their lives sleeping on velvet sheets.

"To you as well, Patrick." Simon said with a thick French accent. "It is always nice to have new blood at these things."

"These things" was the premiere of a new symphony by a modern Swiss composer that Bruce had never heard of. However, it was the big ticket for the evening in downtown Geneva for those with money and so it was where Bruce decided where he wanted to be. Just like with his car, Bruce didn't intend to take the spotlight in Geneva and therefore his seats weren't in any box or even the front row. Instead, he was in the sixteenth row, just close enough to show that he had some money but not close enough that anyone would be looking for him afterwards as the newcomer to the money section.

"Well, Selina and I just recently moved here so we hope to be around more often."

"Really?" Angeline asked curiously, only a hint of French in her accent. "Where do you live?"

"We've actually recently finished moving into the house on the cliff of Lake Geneva." Selina replied, smiling slightly.

"Patrick, you must be quite wealthy to have moved into that home!" Simon shot back, a small look of shock on his face. "What is it that you do?"

"Well, I was an accountant for several international firms for the last decade. However, I must say that most of my wealth is inherited. My great-uncle owned a rather substantial share in one of Australia's largest shipping companies. When he passed around a year and a half ago, most of his wealth passed to me as his only living relative."

"So what are you doing with your time now?" Angeline asked curiously.

"Well, Selina specializes in collecting rare jewelry." Bruce said, smiling towards his date. "So she spends much of her day calling dealers all across the country finding new pieces. As for me, I still advise for two or three American companies but other than that, I'm on a bit of a sabbatical. I have enough money and I make enough through investments that I don't have to work for a time. I'm taking that time to try and discover myself a bit."

"Sounds like you lead a very interesting life, mister...?" Simon said, obviously indicating that he didn't know their last name.

"Morgan." Bruce replied with a smile as the lights above them started to dim. "The name is Patrick Morgan."

"Mr. Morgan, I do hope we meet again sometime. However, I believe that the Symphony is about to begin and we would like to find our seats."

"As would we." Selina said with a smile. "Simon, Angeline, it's been a delight."

With a smile, the couple disappeared into the crowd that began to flow in towards the main theatre. As Selina took his arm, she whispered into his ear.

"How much longer do I have to keep up this act?"

"Until we leave." Bruce replied quietly into her ear.

As Bruce and Selina found their seats, the lights in the main theatre dimmed and the curtain opened revealing the Geneva Symphony. As the evening progressed, Bruce found himself enjoying himself immensely, especially when listening to Selina's nearly constant witty banter.

Patrick Morgan and Selina Kyle sat in the seventeeth row of the Grand Theatre of Geneva, enjoying fantastically arranged music and not spending a single moment thinking about Batman, Wayne Enterprises, Bane or Gotham City.

It was the most peaceful evening he could remember in a long time.


End file.
